1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rendering text and/or graphics at an output device. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for optimizing the advantages of multi-level rendering of text and/or graphics at an output device by providing an alternate manner to perform multi-level rendering.
2. Background and Related Art
Currently computer systems that include a computer device and an output device, such as a printer or a monitor, utilize techniques to render text and/or images. The term rendering refers to a process of utilizing an output device to providing an abstract graphical entity, such as a line, a circle, a text character, or a sampled image.
A current technique for rendering an abstract graphical entity includes employing a raster output device by a process known as scan conversion. A raster includes the rectangular area of a display screen that is used to display abstract graphical entities or images. The raster is slightly smaller than the physical dimensions of the display screen and varies for different resolutions. For example, a video graphics array “VGA” resolution of 640 pixels×480 pixels on a 15-inch monitor produces one raster, whereas a super video graphics array “SVGA” resolution of 1,024 pixels×768 pixels produces a slightly different raster. The process of scan conversion determines which pixels to adjust and what values to assign those pixels to achieve the most faithful rendition possible at the resolution of the output device.
Pixels on a page or a screen are typically represented by a two-dimensional array of pixel values in computer memory. A single bit of computer memory is sufficient to represent each pixel for an output device whose pixels are only black or white, which is typically referred to as “bi-level rendering.” In contrast, multiple bits of computer memory are required to represent each pixel for an output device whose pixels reproduce gray shades or colors, which is typically referred to as “multi-level rendering.”
Multi-level rendering provides an advantage over bi-level rendering in that multi-level rendering typically provides increased realism or more exactly represents the true configuration of the abstract graphical entity. Thus, current raster image processing systems (“RIPs”) that are only able to perform bi-level rendering are unable to utilize the advantages of multi-level rendering.
In attempt to utilize the advantage of multi-level rendering in raster image processing systems that are limited to bi-level rendering, techniques have been presented that utilize post-processing to enhance the edges of graphic entities. These techniques have proved to require a large amount of processing and/or have lacked in accurately representing a true image. Accordingly, it would be an improvement in the art to augment or even replace current techniques with other techniques in order to optimize the advantages of multi-level printing.